


Taking My Shot

by kattihart



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alexander Hamilton AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, F/F, F/M, Historical Inaccuracy, Historical References, How Do I Tag, Hurt, M/M, Major Character Injury, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period-Typical Racism, Politics, Slow Romance, Suicide, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattihart/pseuds/kattihart
Summary: He was just about done with his life at this point, having nothing to his name, barely having paid off his father’s debts, but then an opportunity came. He was offered a scholarship for the King’s college in the New Land. ‘Just one more time’, he had said to himself. Just one more time, he would try to make something of this thing that was his life.---Also Alexander Hamilton the Musical, but Haikyuu characters.(Used to be 'Taking My Shot for You', I just shortened the title.)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei, Kuroo Tetsurou/Yachi Hitoka, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever to be published here (let's not talk about those that are not), so be easy on me. But I will gladly take any suggestions on how to make my writing better and more fluent. My native is not English, so if you see some odd phrases or words, please point them out. I also have no Beta reader, sooo...
> 
> I'm also aware that this is not in any way or form accurate to the actual history of USA, but try not to see this as an accurate depiction, but a fiction that is related to real life events.
> 
> Here is to keeping up on the Hamilton timeline with songs. This one was Alexander Hamilton - Alexander Hamilton (maybe I'll learn how to do hyperlinks in the future).
> 
> But before I ramble on too much, enjoy!

1776:

A ship was but a dot on the horizon, approaching the New York city harbour. Looking back at the city a young man stood on the ship's deck, hair black and messed up like he just came out of a hurricane. The man himself, with a hopeful look in his eyes, was looking forward to starting over once again.

_Small child with black, hurricane hair was laying in bed in his mother’s embrace. Both of them were sickly pale and with laboured breaths the mother soothed her child. “Tetsurou, everything is going to be alright. You are a smart kid, you will do great things, once this is over.”_

And great things he did, the man thought bitterly. He left the deck, going to the door labeled “28” and entered his cabin. He wasn’t the only occupant of the small room as he was saving most of his money for the new land itself. His cabin mates weren’t there when he made his way to the bed that was his own, he started rearranging his belongings into his suitcase.

_After his mother had passed, he was taken in by his only live relative, Kuroo Takuma, his cousin. His father had left him and his mother long before the passing and left his debts for Tetsurou and his mother to handle. Kuroo family’s debts were now on his cousin’s shoulders. Takuma had reassured Tetsurou that everything will be taken care of. Only to find him hanging, his neck connected to the ceiling. Tetsurou Kuroo was left to fend for himself._

Kuroo Tetsurou wasn’t expecting much out of the new land. He did have hopes, but he also knew that expecting those dreams to come true, would only end up him being hurt. He had learned that the hard way.

Tetsurou had made a mess of his belongings during the weeks spent on the sea. Now that he could see the new land, he had to have his papers ready. He put his passport on top of his, now useless, title deeds.

_Kuroo Tetsurou was only 13 when he started trading sugar cane and rum, imported with the same ships, those bringing in human slaves. He had no choice. He used his cousin’s library to it’s full extent, soaking up knowledge like a sponge. With the money he made from sugar and rum, he was eventually an owner of a full fleet of trading ships._

_Things were starting to look up for him, that is, until a hurricane sunk all his ships into the bottom of the ocean. All he had left were the papers stating that he owns a bunch of sunken wood and merchandise._

_He was just about done with his life at this point, having nothing to his name, barely having paid off his father’s debts, but then an opportunity came. He was offered a scholarship for the King’s college in the New Land. ‘Just one more time’, he had said to himself. Just one more time, he would try to make something of this thing that was his life._

Kuroo closed his suitcase, picked it up and headed back to the dock. The city of New York was now in full sight, the harbor taking up most of the view.

“Just one more try”, he repeated to no one but himself.


	2. The New World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said "couple of days" but I forgot that real life is a thing for me now. I also re-wrote some parts of this chapter couple of times to make sure I'm somewhat happy with it. This is actually a combination of two Hamilton songs: [Aaron Burr, sir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOUf8Z0RQic&) and [My Shot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic7NqP_YGlg&) (hey, I did links!). Also considering the chapter count: It might change according to how I write these out, I might add a chapter or I might combine two chapters I have planned out now, but it's still somewhat accurate.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the first actual chapter!

Kuroo Tetsurou, the young 19 year old student at King's College, was walking down the New York street with a small piece of paper in hand. On the paper, was a small drawing portrait of a previous graduate. An attractive young man with black curly hair and black eyes. “Akaashi Keiji” read at the bottom of the paper, under the picture itself. Kuroo had found the picture on Akaashi’s thesis and had borrowed it just for this. Of course his professors wouldn’t have allowed for Kuroo to take it, but no harm if they don’t know, right?

Kuroo had got his hands on an old classmate of Akaashi’s after asking around the campus and showing other students the portrait. The guy had been unwilling to give out any information considering the man in the portrait, but after a bit of convincing, Kuroo had gotten an address for Akaashi’s law firm.

Kuroo was walking towards the address, given to him by Akaashi’s old classmate, when he lifted his eyes from the small portrait in his hand, only to see Akaashi Keiji himself walking down the street. The excitement in Kuroo’s eyes was evident as he saw him. Kuroo quickly made his way to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, are you Akaashi Keiji?”

The man didn’t stop walking, only glancing at Kuroo, forcing him to keep walking as well, Akaashi had short black curly hair on his head and gunmetal, almost black eyes just like the picture. The photo itself was black and white, but it still depicted Akaashi's appearance accurately. He was indeed very beautiful, not much of Kuroo’s type, but it made him a bit nervous.

“Depends on who’s asking”, Akaashi finally answered in a not so friendly way, making Kuroo feel even more nervous than he already was

“Ah, sorry. My name is Kuroo Tetsurou. I heard that you went to King’s College and graduated in two years. So I found a friend of yours and he told me where to find you.”

“Uhm… Who exactly? I’m pretty sure all my _friends_ know to not give away my information so cheaply”, Akaashi glanced at Kuroo again, scanning him up and down. Intimidating from someone younger than Kuroo. Kuroo’s sweat was almost dripping down his face from his anxiety.

“U-uh… Your friend! You know, the one in the financials! I may have slightly touched his face with my fist to coax him, but he was looking at me funny when I said that I wanted to graduate in two years like you and join the revolution, so he kind of deserved it-”, Kuroo rambled, but he was cut off by Akaashi coming to a stop.

“You punched a bursar?” Kuroo stopped as well and saw the flabbergasted face of wide eyed Akaashi. They just stared at each other for a short minute, before Kuroo remembered what he was talking about.

“Yes! I mean, never mind that! I wanted to ask you, how did you do it? How did you graduate in two years?” Kuroo could see that the other man was still considering if Kuroo was an enemy or not. It did not make Kuroo any less nervous.

“...I just studied hard. After my parents passed, they wanted me to take on their company, but I needed the diploma to convince all the business partners that I am not messing around”, Akaashi answered, seeming to come to a decision. He resumed his walk.

“You’re an orphan! Of course! ...Uh, I mean I’m orphan too”, Kuroo quickly corrected himself as he was scared of getting glares from Akaashi’s direction, “It’s so hard to climb the social ladder without parents, am I right?” Kuroo was grinning at Akaashi, but inside he was dying.

To Kuroo’s relief, Akaashi just looked amused now. “My parents did the climbing for me. I’ve had the privilege of using my last name, but sometimes it and my age can be a curse. It’s not easy to be taken seriously.”

“I know right? I had my own trading company back in England, but that didn’t work out so well and now I’m just getting taxed for the ships in the bottom of the sea. Plus I’m still getting taxed because of my father’s will. Kind of the reason I want to join the revolution is because I want to destroy the present day hierarchy and build a new one so people wouldn’t have to be chained down by some mistakes that you had no word in”, Akaashi seemed to think about this for a short minute

“...Can I buy you a drink? I think we should talk about these things somewhere, a bit more... private. And I’ll give you some free advice on top of that”, Akaashi pointedly nodded towards a bar at the end of the street.

“Sure! Maybe it should be me buying you, but never say no to free drinks”, with that, both of them made their way towards the bar and Kuroo entered after Akaashi, who went straight toward the bartender to order a couple of beers. Kuroo looked around and the bar itself looked nice, mostly wooden interior was decorated with framed paintings. A lone standing piano sat in the corner and a wall of booze was behind the bar. It was probably a popular spot for drinking, multiple people already sitting on the rounded tables.

Akaashi made his way to a table a bit further away from the bar and in a private corner that Kuroo didn’t even notice, before Akaashi went and sat down, inviting Kuroo to come with him. He followed Akaashi there and sat across the table from him, taking his drink from Akaashi and gulping down some beer before starting up the conversation again.

“So, what was your free advice you wanted to give me, dear sir lawyer?”

“...Don’t be so obvious with your intentions”, Akaashi took a sip from his drink as well.

“Uh, what?” obviously confused, Kuroo was looking at Akaashi, maybe him thinking that they were starting to get along, was wrong and Akaashi didn’t want Kuroo to talk with after all.

“Talk less. And just smile”, to demonstrate, Akaashi put down the drink, holding the beer with both of his hands and smiled in a way that could only be described as gracious, but it didn’t match the words he said next, “If you let the whole world know that you’re planning on revolution, you will be killed faster than a pig in a butcher's home. You wanted to know how I survived those two years? I made sure to let other people know that I was not against them, but I was not with them either.”

“...Seriously? Aren’t you revolutionary? Shouldn’t you be more active on actually making a difference?” Kuroo couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“If you stay neutral, no one will have anything to say against you. I’d rather not voice my opinions than be killed because of it, even if I disagree with some people”, this was the guy Kuroo was looking forward to meeting? How did this guy even end up with the revolutionaries? To put it mildly, he was disappointed. He was expecting to meet someone who was going to do great things and instead, was met with someone that was too scared to do anything.

Kuroo didn’t have time to voice his thoughts when the door to the bar slammed open, with a loud bang that made both Akaashi and Kuroo turn to look at a man with hair just as ridiculous as Kuroo’s, styled upwards black and white streaked hair, that made the muscular man look like an owl with his golden eyes, had just entered the bar.

“It’s drinking time!” the man exclaimed, Kuroo saw from the corner of his eye that Akaashi was busy covering his face with his palm.

“Speak of the devil…” Akaashi could be heard mumbling behind his hand. The eccentric man walked over to the bar, leaned over the table and started ordering a list of beverages. Behind him entered two other men, One with brown, medium length hair styled to perfection and his clothes were noticeably more fashionable than anyone in the bar. Next to him was a smaller man with all black hair, reaching his shoulders. His face was covered with his hair, but his demeanor was so different from the two, he immediately caught Kuroo’s attention. His slouched walking style almost told everyone that maybe he didn’t want to be a center of attention, unlike the other two puffing out their chests.

Kuroo was just about to ask Akaashi about who these guys were but the brown haired man jumped onto a table and answered that question for him.

“Hello everyone! Ladies and gentlemen! Americans and immigrants! I am the one, the only Oikawa Tooru and today you have the pleasure of hearing the stories of my great achievements!” the brown haired man was speaking as though the bar was a theatre, everyone at the bar turning to look at Oikawa.

“As of today we have kicked six redcoats’ asses!” from this announcement, some of the people stopped paying attention, but this intrigued Kuroo even more. Unfortunately, the smaller man tugged on Oikawa’s pant leg and the latter jumped down. The smaller man seemed to mumble something to Oikawa, which made him look straight at Kuroo’s table.

Kuroo was getting nervous when he saw Oikawa tugging on the muscular man at the bar and whispering something into his ear, that made the other man look at Kuroo too. Kuroo was nervous and confused, but when all three of the men approached, he realized they weren’t looking at him, but Akaashi. When he turned to look at Akaashi again, he seemed to have found newspaper from somewhere and was covering his face with that instead of his palm. As if not wanting to get recognized, but it was too late for him.

The black and white haired man reached the table first and almost flung himself on top of the table, trying to get an angle to see Akaashi’s face.

“Hey hey hey! Look who it is! My favourite law man!” the man sounded sincere. Behind him Oikawa also threw himself onto the beefy man, making the table tilt dangerously.

“‘Our’ favourite, Bokuto, ‘our’”, he corrected.

“It’s called being a lawyer, dear Bokuto. I would also appreciate, if you would refrain from making my drink topple over”, Akaashi sighed with a smile as he put down the paper and looked straight at the man under Oikawa, although Kuroo couldn’t exactly see much anymore, their backs turned to him. This made his eyes wander and he accidentally made eye contact with the third man, smallest of the three standing next to the table, but as they made contact he quickly turned to look away and Kuroo had to wonder if he imagined it as his face was again hidden by his hair. He could only see a quick flash of big golden eyes. It was cute, Kuroo thought.

“Tooru, did you hear that?! He called me ‘dear’..!” Kuroo was pulled from his thoughts. Bokuto seemed to be sincerely happy about this fact, but was quickly put down as Oikawa patted his shoulder consolingly.

“He was probably sarcastic. He is a meanie like that. Just like that time when he didn’t tell you that the food he gave you had dropped on the ground”, Bokuto started to pout, getting up to turn to Oikawa, forcing him to get up as well as he was on top of Bokuto.

“He wasn’t being mean, I was hungry and he knew that I didn't care if it had fallen on the ground. Right, Akaashi?” he turned to look at Akaashi, who made the same smile that Kuroo already saw earlier, unsure if it was sincere or not.

“Sure, Bokuto.”

“See! Kenma agrees with me, right?” Bokuto turned to look at the smaller man, who now finally turned his head so Kuroo could actually _see_ him. Along with his big cat-like eyes, he had a small, round face.

“Yes, he’s totally into you. Just like that other time when he left to deal with ‘business’ and you were left to supposedly do a mission alone”, Kenma’s voice was quiet too, but he still seemed intensive, despite the bored look on his face. With his words, Akaashi’s smile fell.

“That mission would’ve been a suicide. If I hadn’t left, we’d both be, if not dead, then in jail and I’m not ready to throw away my life like that”, Akaashi stared back at Kenma, and Kuroo could almost see the electricity running between them. They certainly had a history together and Kuroo was curious.

“What exactly is worth throwing your life away for?” with Kuroo’s interruption, all of the four men turned to look at him, Oikawa and Bokuto as if they hadn’t noticed his existence before. All eyes were on him, now suspicious, which made Kuroo suddenly nervous again, sweat dripping down his neck. No one said anything for what felt like ages to Kuroo, but Oikawa broke the silence.

“Who are you?”, he demanded.

“Yeah, who the heck are you?!” Bokuto echoed, but added, “What’s it to you?!”

Kuroo went quiet for a bit, looking at all the men on the table, realizing that these people were wanting for a change just like him. As he felt the piercing gazes of the men, he downed the rest of his beer quickly and swallowed his nervousness. He slammed his glass against the table and got up.

“I am Kuroo Tetsurou, and I’m studying law in King’s College in hopes to use that in practice to create an actual New World instead of a bad copy of already existing England. I came here to escape the stupid rules set by the king, where we are responsible for our parent’s mistakes, not to be a slave to a name that’s history is tied to thousands of miles away. I’m sick and tired of having to live by rules that don’t do anything but hold me back

“Not to mention, we pay taxes for what cause? To line the pockets of the rich Englishmen who are supposedly looking after the less fortunate. At what point am I less fortunate? If it’s not when I’m sick and hungry, is it when I’m dead, I sure as hell won’t be using any money in the afterlife, where I’m going anyways wherever I fight for freedom or not.”

A silence fell onto the table and everyone still kept staring at Kuroo, causing his nervousness to quickly come back after the short lived shot of confidence he had and he slowly sat back down.

“I-I mean, I just hope to join the revolution..?” he tried again, wishing that the ground would swallow him. Instead, Bokuto and Oikawa just shared a glance and a quiet agreement which ended with Bokuto leaving the table, Kuroo was about to start panicking until he saw Kenma making a move to sit down at the table, making Kuroo to stare at him in confusion.

“Hey hey hey! Bartender, add ten shots to my tab! Strongest booze you have!”, Bokuto suddenly exclaimed even though he turned to walk towards the bar himself. Meanwhile Oikawa pulled up a chair for himself as well. Oikawa leaned over the table and no more had the look of suspicion in his eyes.

“Why didn’t you just say so? You’re definitely a good talker, but might want to start with something that might not be as easily misunderstood. Here we thought you were an Englisman yourself even though it’s pretty obvious now that you’re not”, Kuroo relaxed at this and finally understood why all of them suddenly got so tense all of a sudden. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“I hear that a lot. And I’m working on it. Although being with Akaashi, I thought my intentions would be clear. He’s a legend after all”, he turned to look at Akaashi who was sipping on his beer like it was tea.

“Says who?” Oikawa barked. “I mean yeah, he has a lot of inspirational words on papers, but in real life he’s kind of spineless.”

“Just because I don’t want to ruin my life, doesn’t make me spineless. I plan on making a change, no matter if this revolution is a doomed cause or not. I’m with you, but how do you plan on making a change if you’re dead?” Akaashi questioned.

“How do _you_ plan on making a change, if you don’t fight for it?” Kenma butted in. Kuroo looked at the small man. He definitely didn’t look like someone with such a strong will, but damn, was Kuroo impressed. The question was left floating in the air, but Bokuto came back with a trayful of shots, a couple bigger glasses with an unknown mix of boozes and put it down to the table.

“Why is the air so heavy here? We just made a new friend! Let’s take some shots in celebration!” Bokuto distributed the drinks to everyone at the table, one shot per person, including Akaashi and Kuroo, before he raised his own glass, waiting for others to do the same.

“To Kuroo Tetsurou from… uh… law school!” he tried.

“To the Revolution!” Oikawa corrected and downed his drink, making Bokuto do the same. Kuroo awkwardly downed his as well, feeling the burn of alcohol instantly bringing warmth to his cheeks.

“To the better future”, Akaashi downed his free drink.

“For the freedom”, Kenma downed his last, his face scrunching at the taste. Kuroo watched as Bokuto laughed at Kenma and offered him one of the tipple glasses, which the smaller man took immediately to wash away the taste from the shot. Bokuto gave everyone else a second shot glass.

“So... You heard my reason. What about you guys? You’re definitely passionate about the revolution, but what made you join?” Kuroo picked up the glass, but didn’t drink it yet.

“Ah… Well you see, I dream about the world without monarchy. I don’t think there should be one person who has the right to decide the fates of millions without even knowing those millions. I just hate the idea that I am just a subject of someone and am supposed to throw my life away for that someone. If I’m going to throw away my life, it will be for myself. Of course, mainly I just want to bring freedom to France, but this is a great place to start. I’m sure you understand”, Oikawa explained and downed another shot. Kuroo did understand, an alliance between France and America was not unheard of, and Oikawa was probably here for that.

“Me! Me next! I joined the rebellion, because we have way better chances of making it in the world than being the tailor’s son. I just see how much my old man works and while he likes his work, we still struggle with money. If some Englisman decides that they don’t like my pop’s clothes, they spread the word around and no one will buy from us. It’s really unfair for my dad, when he works so hard. ...Also I’m really bad with needles” Bokuto took his second shot and laughed sluggishly. Kuroo tried to imagine this big beefy man at a table trying to sew silently in concentration and laughed with Bokuto.

“I just think that human rights belong to everyone despite their skin color”, hinting at ending the slave trade, Kenma calmly sipped his drink and once again Kuroo was taken aback by a surprise by the smaller man. Not because of the statement itself, but somehow Kuroo just didn’t expect something so controversial to come out of the smaller man. Kenma’s expression looked so uncaring and bored, the few words he talked almost contradicted his whole demeanor. But when Kuroo actually _looked_ at him, he could see the _fire_ in his eyes. Kenma was ready to fight.

“I know you guys want to fight and everything, and I’m with you, but if you’re so vocal, you’re going to get shot”, Akaashi was starting to sound worried more than anything, pushing the shot glass in front of him away, but Kuroo was starting to get annoyed. Even though Akaashi had written about a lot of things Kuroo agreed on, he really did seem kind of spineless. Or maybe he was just getting overconfident from the alcohol.

“C’mon Akaashi, there aren’t even any redcoats here and even if there was, we have this beefy muscle man, Bokuto here to protect you. And Oikawa sounds like he has planned everything ten years into the future, as if he’s going to get caught here. Not to mention, Kenma could probably catch anyone so off guard, he could stab them before they can even react. I mean that is after the fact that he could also probably stab them with only a look and a few words until they came around and were suddenly on our side”, this seemed to boost Oikawa’s and Bokuto’s confidence but Kenma was still unreadable. At least the small sip that he took from his drink as everyone else took another shot assured Kuroo that he didn’t say anything wrong. Akaashi was the only one who didn’t drink.

“Yo! This bro is right, ‘Kaashi, I’ll protect you! I know you worry about everything, but this is the one thing you can trust me on!” Bokuto definitely seemed to be fond of Akaashi and he actually turned to smile at Bokuto again and this time it was obviously sincere.

“I appreciate it, Bokuto, but I don’t want protection. Nor do I need it. I’m worried for you, not for myself.”

“Oi. As if he can’t take care of himself if he can take care of you”, Kuroo continued.

“Kuro makes a good argument”, Kenma added. Which again took Kuroo by surprise.

“K-kuro? Did you just give me a nickname that is just one letter shorter than my actual name?”

“Kuroo is such a drag…” Kenma seemed suddenly embarrassed, looking down to let his hair fall in front of his face again, but not before Kuroo could see the redness of his cheeks, either from alcohol, or from embarrassment. _He was so cute_ , Kuroo thought again in a slightly drunken haze. Oikawa started laughing at this.

“This is just like Kenken~! He gives people weird nicknames all the time!” It seemed to Kuroo that Oikawa was the one making weird nicknames, though.

“No, I don’t. I just call people with shorter versions of their names… Like ‘Tooru’ is just your first name. Or I call them the names you came up with”, Kenma refuted.

“Aww, I knew I had a good influence on you!” Oikawa almost threw himself onto Kenma, who quickly pushed him away so the former wouldn’t fall off his chair.

“But bro, do you wanna enlist? We could take you there”, Bokuto directed his question to Kuroo, who was confused at first but then remembered. _Right. The revolution._

“Oh, nah. I wanted to graduate before enlisting. But if you don’t mind, I can still join you guys if you have some missions or whatever.”

“Dude, there is no reason for you to not enlist. You don’t gotta do anything you don’t want to, but you’ll get the equipment and the chances if you do. Also you get paid.”

“And if you want, you can just turn other people into rebellion, since you make good arguments”, Kenma argued.

“Your college seems like a perfect place for recruits. Not to mention we could actually hold events with you as a talker”, Oikawa already seemed to be planning something for Kuroo.

“Uhh… I mean sure I can do all that, but I don’t actually mind being on the battlefield either…” Kuroo looked around at the other men and took another shot, “Okay what the hell, show me where I can write down my name!”

“That’s the way!” Bokuto exclaimed as he took another shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks to next chapter!
> 
> I still have no beta reader and english is not my native, so if you spot any weird wording etc. tell me, please (okay, I lied, my beta reader is google docs, but still).
> 
> And hey, shout out to BLM. I know this fic will touch some very sensitive subjects, but I want to make it clear that I as a writer don't think the way the characters in this fic may. I'm going to avoid writing any of the mentioned characters as straight up racists, but be warned that it is a topic here.


	3. Start of Something Great

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I kept editing and editing this chapter and was not happy with it. That is until I rewrote the whole thing in Kenma's POV. Now I'm quite happy with it after just one editing session.
> 
> This chapter doesn't have a specific Hamilton song to it as the Hamilton musical kind of just jumps straight into it and I didn't want to do that. The next chapter will be back on track though. If you listen to some music while reading, I do recommend [this.](https://open.spotify.com/album/358YHRqslH5vpQET8b6wmb?si=S1jqO4miQIaj9dtm_ZRmRw)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Kenma wasn’t really impressed by the newcomer. Yes, he did seem to have his way with words, but he also seemed to be slightly arrogant, regardless of all the nervousness he was showing. Not to mention, his attraction towards the smaller man was so very obvious, even Bokuto could see it. It wasn’t the first time some stranger had crushed on him at first glance, but they seemed to lose interest after talking to him just a couple of times.

Showing Kuroo to Sugawara Koushi, who kept the somewhat official record of all the revolutionaries, meant that he was now on the same side. This record wasn’t on paper of course, as getting caught with a piece of such paper would mean either death or life in jail for all of those recorded. Treason wasn’t taken lightly. But just a casual introduction and Kuroo was in.

Kuroo quickly got into his missions with an excitement Kenma hadn’t seen before. Bokuto seemed to match his energy, and hairstyle, but Kuroo was plenty more motivated for the cause than him. The two of them just clicked instantly and as such, they were put on the missions together. Kuroo wasn’t as good at gathering attention as Bokuto was, but his speeches were second to none in the current lines.

Kenma would be lying if he said that Kuroo’s speeches didn’t hit close to home, but he was reluctant in admitting this outloud. He didn’t want to give Kuroo any hopes of getting close to him as Kenma wasn’t really looking for any kind of relationship. Kuroo seemed to make up such obvious excuses to approach the smaller man that it was almost painful. Luckily he did seem to understand that this was annoying Kenma and dropped the behaviour rather quickly,a tough Kenma could still see the taller man stealing glances at himself whenever the man thought he wasn’t looking.

Kenma and Kuroo didn’t usually have missions together as Kenma tended to be working more on the behind the scenes, when Kuroo worked on getting as much attention as possible, but sharing the same friends, brought them together often. They shared drinks together with Oikawa and Bokuto, and sometimes even with Akaashi. Today was one of those days, but no one else had made it except Akaashi and himself. 

Kenma considered Akaashi a level headed man, although sometimes the man’s hesitations and worries seemed to hold him back. Kenma liked Akaashi, but was also annoyed by how hard it was to get Akaashi to participate in anything so he had given up trying to convince him to come onto the missions with him a while ago. Usually nights with Akaashi were full with comfortable silence, friendly banter or just conversations where they detach themselves from the current situation and talk as if they were outsiders.

“So it’s just the two of us again…” Akaashi brought Kenma a drink and sat across him, he had picked up a newspaper from the bar as well.

“Kou said he would be coming”, Kenma took his drink and watched as Akaashi’s expression brightened a bit.

“Oh? He’s just late then?” Akaashi’s face was unreadable to most people, but to Kenma his affection for Bokuto was obvious.

“Probably not. Last I saw him, he was being chased by redcoats”, he saw Akaashi’s face fall again as Kenma took a sip.

“And this was when…?”

“Half an hour ago”, Akaashi sighed at this and opened the newspaper.

“I shouldn’t have expected any less. He’s been even more reckless since that Kuroo guy joined him…”

“I don’t think the problem is their recklessness but the lack of planning…”

“You make it sound like you have better ideas on how to organize traitorous speeches”, Akaashi lifted his eyebrow at Kenma, which slightly annoyed him. Of course he knew that Kenma didn’t have any better ideas, but no need to say it.

“I just think that there should be more we can do. For the risk we’re taking.”

“What more is there? I’ve been using words to try and fight the english since I first picked up a quill. Until we have more men, there isn’t much we can do. And to get men, we need to convince them. Using words”, Akaashi straightened the paper in his hands with a small flick, as if to end the conversation.

Kenma was left silent for a bit. Akaashi probably thought that this topic is already old enough and there isnät much to discuss, so there is no sense in revisiting it. But Kenma couldn’t help but feel like there was something they hadn’t talked about.

“...What if we’re thinking backwards?” the smaller man started again.

“What?” Akaashi looked over the paper at Kenma.

“Backwards. We don’t need to convince more people to have more men”, Kenma could hear his brain just whirring as he started to hatch out a new plan.

“Are you saying that what we’re doing right now, is completely useless?” Akaashi didn’t like the direction this was going.

“No”, Kenma scoffed, “I’m saying that we’re actually trying to climb a tall fence when we could just go around it. No need to convince more people, if people are already convinced.”

“Oh”, he was about to return to his paper when the realization hit, “ _...Oh no._ You’re not suggesting that-?” Akaashi put down the paper but got interrupted by Kenma, something the smaller mad didn’t do often.

“There are plenty of people that are considered already dead. They have hatred towards the King and we could give them a place to stay. We only need a distraction”, Kenma’s eyes were twinkling as he talked. He knew he was right about this, Kenma’s plan would work. Kuroo could be the distraction.

“...Bokuto and Kuroo. But I’m not sure if it’s worth-”, Akaashi reaches the same conclusion, but also gets cut off again, Kenma continued.

“Their risk isn’t any bigger than any other time. We just need a couple men to sneak by them while they gather the redcoats attention”, Akaashi seemed to consider this for a bit, but seemed to be still a bit worried. This didn’t surprise Kenma. He was always worried after all.

“...I think you should talk this through with Sugawara”, this was as much as a “yes” as Akaashi would give to any plan with a risk. Not that Kenma needed a permission, but it still eased him to know that he wasn’t just crazy and asking for death, but actually had a plan that Akaashi, the most critical revolutionary, actually agreed with.

Before bringing the plan to Sugawara though, he brainstormed it with Akaashi, having the black haired man to tone in on some details he thought might be important to add and consider. Having to include Akaashi in the planning also seemed to calm him down from his worries as it was made clear that Bokuto would do what he usually does with Kuroo, and no added risk would come to him. Of course Akaashi also didn’t want to participate at all, but again, no surprise there.

Once Kenma went and found Sugawara, he didn’t seem to be against it, but didn’t want to assign anyone into doing it because of the risks. So Kenma was left with finding the men willing to do it by himself, but was also given authority to take Kuroo and Bokuto into his plan. Kenma had no question on who he wanted to bring with him. Oikawa Tooru would be more than able to do what Kenma had planned.

“Uh… So we just do what we normally do?” Kuroo asked Kenma. Kuroo was understandably confused, since he didn’t actually know the full plan in case they caught him. Bokuto next to him was not as confused, even though he knew just as much. He was more used to not knowing what the plan was and just going with it.

“That’s what he said~! The longer you can keep it up, the better. Kenma made sure it’s not easy to get on top of there, but it’s easy to get away!” Kuroo looked at the building he was supposed to go on top of and start his speech. It was a tall storage building, not unlike the one next to it. The location was unusual, as they usually avoided places that were crowded with redcoats, but this time it was the harbor. Not many civilians and at least double the people who wanted them dead. Not to mention it was on top of a tall building.

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to do it”, Kenma knew that this would just dare him to do it, but at the same time he did mean it. He didn’t want to force anyone into this and knew that Sugawara would be against it as well.

“Nah, no. It’s okay, I’m just slightly scared of heights”, Kuroo grinned back at Kenma who saw that he was clearly scared despite his toothy smile. Kenma couldn’t read him well enough to tell if he was telling the truth or if it was because of the plan.

“Bro, I’ll catch you if you fall, no need to be scared!” Bokuto chimed in.

“Bro, I knew I could trust your strong arms!”, Kuroo threw himself at Bokuto who caught him easily.

“I’ll even take a bullet for ya, bro!” Kenma rolled his eyes as Kuroo and Bokuto kept their weird “bromance” going.

“Whenever you’re ready~”, Oikawa interrupted as he spun an axe in his hand. It wasn’t his weapon of choice, but Kenma had insisted on it. Oikawa had five more axes on his back, wrapped sloppily in cloth. Kenma only had three, as he didn’t want to risk being slowed down by the weight and all those extras weren’t really necessary anyway. The more important thing was the flint and steel in his pocket.

Kuroo and Bokuto stopped their bickering, before sharing a look with each other. Kuroo seemed to hesitate for a bit before he covered his face with a scarf and made his way across the pier to the building and started climbing the rope ladder that was placed there by Oikawa earlier. Bokuto followed his lead. Kenma watched as Bokuto and Kuroo made their way up, before turning to Oikawa.

“You’re sure, they were moved?”

“Yup. When I was here earlier they all were moved to this one. The sloops are empty”, Oikawa nodded at a galleon ship behind them while leaning on a railing. If he slipped, he would be met face first with seawater. Kenma and Oikawa didn’t stand out much as they had clothed themselves as harbor workers. They were just two workers on a break next to some big boxes that barely acted as a cover.

“We might have to wreck the smaller ones… A galleon is a lot more work to sink” Kenma didn’t like the fact that the plan was already starting to derail.

“Well, I asked around and it seems that they usually do this. The redcoats have unmanned proxy ships they send out, while the real one can just pass as a normal ‘cargo’ ship. But all the sailors are just redcoats in disguise”, Oikawa continued his explanation.

“What you’re saying is that even if we sink the proxies, they won’t care. Great”, Kenma rubbed his face in frustration.

“I guess we just have to hope for the best~”, Oikawa just shrugged. Kenma definitely didn’t like the odds of “just hoping”, but it was too late to start regretting now, as he heard Bokuto make a very loud hooting noise that attracted the attention of everyone on the pier. Kenma looked up at the building to see Kuroo standing on the edge with his mask and hat on, holding a speaking trumpet.

“Hello all americans! Ever wonder why you slave away, working till death just to survive?! Well, so do I! Why the fuck are you working for someone else, when you can barely afford to eat, even more so, feed your family?!” Kuroo began his speech. Every time Kenma heard it, it was different, probably reflecting Kuroo’s feelings to the scene he sees. American sailors working hard while redcoats just watch over them.

Kenma quickly turned his head away from the speech, tilting his head downwards, allowing his hair to cover his face as he secretly kept his eye on the galleon.

“How many guards?” he asked Oikawa.

“Four plus the captain”, Oikawa kept his eyes on Kuroo still speaking.

“Why do you work so hard to survive as the work is the thing killing you?! If you really wanted to work to survive, don’t you think that there should be another solution other than suffering through your whole life only to pay a debt that was never yours to begin with?! Let me tell you! You owe no one! If you’re taking a loan just to cover the money that was stolen from you by taxes of the king, it’s not money you should owe, but the king should owe!”

Kenma watched as two men left the ship behind Oikawa. Redcoats on the street were also starting to leave to deal with Kuroo and Bokuto. Kenma waited.

“Isn’t it funny that you’re having to do all this heavy lifting and dirty work, while handling all this expensive merchandise, while you get barely even a fraction of the value you carry each day?! Might as well throw it in the sea, as you get nothing from it anyway! Just get paid in bread one day and starve the next week! Scavenging for leftovers from these englishmen, who eat like pigs!”

One more man left the ship. Kenma guessed that Kuroo was making his speech extra offensive on purpose, probably realizing that he and Bokuto were the distraction.

“I bet you can’t even imagine living in the kind of luxury that you could afford the items you carry every day! Can you even imagine taking a break, because you’re sick or injured?! How could you afford to feed yourself or your family if you’re not able to work?! Will you put your children to work for you?! I bet you don’t want this kind of life for your children! Why would you want it for yourself?!”

Kenma watched as one more man ran out of the ship with a sword on tow so he gave his order, “Jump.”

With the order, Oikawa just casually let himself fall over the railing and into the water, meanwhile Kenma made his way to board the ship. Of course, as Kenma was walking the board that connected the pier to the ship, the captain of said ship, spotted Kenma.

“Wait, stop. Identify yourself. This ship is off limits”, Kenma watched as the man reached for his hip, probably for a gun. Kenma raised his hands, but kept walking on board with a completely straight face. He was good at looking bored.

“I’m the mechanic. Someone told me that you wanted a boiler installed”, it sounded like reciting lines in Kenma’s own head. Made him regret not putting Oikawa on this task instead, but the french was the faster swimmer.

“Wait? Who said that? I never gave those assholes any permission to modify my ship”, at least it was enough to stop the captain from pulling out his gun. Even if Kenma couldn’t convince himself with his acting, at least it was good enough for someone less observant. And Kuroo was still loud enough to distract him from the stiff words.

“My boss said. I don’t know who said it to him. I’m just a mechanic. This is _‘Mary’s night’_ , right?” Kenma continued, he saw Oikawa’s head pop up from the edge of the ship.

“Yes, that’s right. ...No wait, that’s not right, whoever gave you the order, bring them here! And get off my ship!” oops, Kenma shifted his eyes back to the captain who had pulled out his gun and was now pointing it at him.

“Okay, okay… No need to point guns at me…” Kenma didn’t step back though, just waited as Oikawa sneaked closer, lifting the axe above his head.

“Well, go on! Leave my ship this instant! Or you’ll leave with a bullet hole in your forehead!”

Kenma didn’t have to answer the man as Oikava swung down the blunt side of his axe so it hit the back of the captain’s head with a nasty skull cracking sound, making the man fall onto the ground groaning and bleeding.

“Tie him up. I’ll find the keys”, Kenma gave orders as he started moving hastily. He picked up the gun from the captain and quickly searched through the captain’s pockets for keys. Kuroo was still going on.

“Imagine living the life for yourself! Fighting for things you believe in instead of being fed the crumbs of someone else’s beliefs and barely surviving! You hate on the immigrants who were given a one piece of bread that you wanted! Instead of hating on the rich who are using that same bread as a stepping stone to reach for treats that you can’t even imagine ever tasting! We live in a world where you punish a starving child for theft, instead of the shopkeeper who refuses the child a shelter and food all the while forcing that same child to work for them!”

Kenma found a key in the man’s pockets and ran to the captain’s cabin. He didn’t have to look around for long until he found a big key ring hanging on a hook on one of the supporting poles of the room, containing 3 keys. Kenma grabbed it and ran back to the deck where he saw the captain tied and gagged to the mast with chains. Oikawa flashed Kenma a crooked smile.

“They tease us by bragging about their wealth claiming that you can reach this wealth by ‘working hard’! How can you work hard for the riches when you’re already killing yourself with work just to survive?! Then they point fingers to fight for scraps amongst ourselves! You’re fighting to survive?! Why not fight for your own freedom or at least for your childrens’! Or for their childrens’! You’re already killing yourself by working, why not use your life for something that can actually make a difference?!”

Kenma lifted the keyring to show Oikawa and they both dived under the deck where Kuroo’s voice was more muffled and Kenma could no longer hear the words, but could still tell that he was speaking. They had to go down two stairs to reach the cells. There was finally their objective, at least 30 men in chains, about to be shipped to be either slaves or in a public execution. Jampacked and everyone turned to look at Oikawa and Kenma as they came in.

“If you want to live, don’t scream. After you’re free, jump off the ship and swim some way before you come to an alley that is marked with an american flag”, Oikawa told everyone there, repeating the same in french, while Kenma worked on the cell locks. At least Kenma assumed that Oikawa just repeated the same thing, but Kenma had no way of telling.

Kenma quickly opened the chains on everyone, one by one. After about half of the people were freed, Kenma could no longer hear Kuroo, so he handed the keys to a prisoner in front of him.

“We have to start demolishing. Start swimming if you can while chained, otherwise free yourselves. Take an axe and make holes on the hull if you’re confident enough about your swimming skills”, Kenma dropped the axes on his back while Oikawa repeated the same in french and started handing out axes. Kenma hurried as he climbed the stairs back up and searched for the storage room.

As Kenma found the room, he couldn’t help but be happy to see a huge barrel of gunpowder in front of him. As a galleon, they had stocked a plenty more gunpowder that they would've had if the ship was smaller. Kenma knew he didn’t have much time to move the big gunpowder barrel so he started dragging it from the safe storage room across the lower deck and next to the hull, hopefully close enough to the mast as well. As he struggled with the heavy barrel he saw people run past him and to the upper deck. Once he was satisfied with the placement, he opened the barrel just to take a small amount of gunpowder to create a small line from the barrel to all the way to the stairs.

Kenma looked down the stairs onto the lowest floor to see everyone pretty much done already, Oikawa and some of the freed prisoners were just working with the axes, punching holes into the hull of the ship, letting water leak in.

“That’s enough. We gotta go. I’ll light this up once everyone is off.”

“Leave the axes! There’s more, where they came from! Dive as long as you can, you won’t be spotted underwater~!” Oikawa started herding the people out of the ship and Kenma followed to see the rest of the people jump off into the dark water. When he turned his head to the pier in the other direction, he could already see people returning to their stations, including the fake sailors of this ship.

Kenma hurried as he went back down and dug out his flint and steel, scratching his small pocket knife against the stick of flint. A small spark did come out of it, but it wasn’t enough to light the gunpowder.

Kenma tried once more. The gunpowder didn’t get lit. He heard laughing closing in.

Kenma’s hands were sweaty as he flicked once more. This time there was not even a spark. Kenma started panicking as he heard footsteps boarding the ship and people noticing the captain tied to the mast.

Kenma changed his grip and scratched so aggressively that he succeeded to cut across his thumb while also succeeding to spark directly onto the black powder, which now glowed a bright yellow. The glow quickly moved along the line and towards the barrel.

Kenma didn’t have the time to think about his bleeding thumb. He quickly dropped the flint, just ran up the stairs and dived into the water as he heard someone yelling behind him, he had been spotted, but he hurriedly swam away from the ship, just trying to make distance between him and the ship. He could feel the small ripples of waves as a bullet went past him. But it was the only shot taken at him, and he just focused on reaching a cover.

He kept swimming under the water until his lungs were screaming for oxygen at which point he broke the surface gasping and finally gave himself a glance behind him. Saying that the galleon was on fire, was understatement. The whole ship was tilted as water poured in the huge hole the gunpowder had burned onto the hull, there were pieces of wood burning even in the water and the fire had spread onto another ship next to the galleon. Unfortunately the galleon’s masts still stood strong, but at least the huge hole would be enough work for redcoats that they would not follow Kenma as he turned back to face forward and continued swimming.

Kenma wasn’t the fastest swimmer, but he wasn’t weak one either. He used the pier and the other ships to his advantage as he went under them and kept so close that it would be impossible to see him unless it was from a particular angle. And even if he was seen, the probability that it was an Englishman was low as everyone was now focused on the sinking galleon.

The meeting spot was marked with a small american flag, small enough that you couldn’t see it from further away, but as you got close, you could also see the rope ladder reaching an alley that would be normally unreachable from the water. As Kenma swam up to it, everyone was already out of the water. He was so tired of swimming that as he climbed the ladder and a hand was offered to him, he didn’t think twice before grabbing it.

“Thanks”, he had the time to mutter before he was suddenly pulled out of the water so violently it caused him to panic for a second, thinking that it was a redcoat and everyone was already caught, but when he saw Bokuto’s familiar face grinning from ear to ear, he calmed down instantly. Bokuto’s smile however turned to a face of horror and he quickly let go of Kenma’s hand.

“Oh shit, sorry! I didn’t notice you were bleeding!” Kenma looked down on his hand, finally having the time to examine it. It had a pretty bad looking cut, from his wrist, all the way to his last knuckle on his thumb. It was bleeding and it stung, but since it didn’t hurt that bad, Kenma figured, it must look worse than it is. Bokuto’s yelling attracted two more people, Oikawa and Kuroo, who Kenma hadn’t noticed that was there before, even though he was just standing right behind Bokuto. _Huh, the adrenaline must be wearing off_ , Kenma was feeling pretty tired too.

“Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor? It looks like it’s bleeding pretty bad…” Kuroo seemed to be freaking out, hovering over Kenma uselessly, but as Kenma looked down on his hand, Oikawa had taken it into his and was already wrapping it into unidentified cloth.

“Nonsense! We don’t have the time for that right now, Kenma has to bite the bullet for now, if we try and go find a doctor, we will get caught. We have to meet up with Suga first”, Oikawa finished his sloppy wrapping, and squeezed his hand before letting go, telling Kenma to hold the poor wrapping in place without any words. And Kenma did.

Kuroo seemed to have objections, but not reasonable ones, as he decided to just stay quiet instead of voicing them. It was kind of amusing to see Kuroo like this, as Kuroo kept telling everyone how he was ready to die for this cause. One small wound compared to that was absolutely nothing.

Kenma let Oikawa handle the herding of the people through the alleyways. The route had been planned previously by Kenma too, but Oikawa had the language skills to make sure everyone understood, where and why they were going. Kenma stayed behind everyone, making sure no one was being left behind and lost. Bokuto seemed to be way too happy to leave Kenma with Kuroo alone as he went to the front with Oikawa.

Kuroo and Kenma just walked in silence while Oikawa gave the freed men instructions on how to walk quietly but casually. Kuroo fidgeted with his hands trying very hard to seem casual and Kenma was just amused that Kuroo seemed suddenly very awkward when being left behind by his best friend, obviously in an attempt to get Kuroo and Kenma together. Kenma still wasn’t interested, but he did think that the situation was amusing. Might as well entertain himself a bit more.

“Ow”, Kenma’s acting was as bad as ever, but as expected, Kuroo perked up and instantly came closer.

“What’s wrong? Does it hurt bad? I’m not the best at first aid, but I can look at it and wrap it better. All while we walk, of course!” Kuroo’s nervousness was hilarious and so obvious. Maybe Kenma was a bit of a sadist for thinking that.

“Nah. It just hurts me, how awkward you get as soon as you get left alone with me. As if you hated me”, of course Kenma knew this wasn’t true, but he kind of wanted to hear it from Kuroo himself.

“Oh! No, sorry! Of course I don’t hate you! I just… I just think that you’re a bit intimidating. I mean, not in a bad way! I’m just glad I’m not your enemy”, Kenma’s lifted his brows in surprise. This wasn’t what he expected. He expected a mild confession of some sorts.

“What do you mean? Most people seem to think I’m harmless..?” Kenma’s interest was piqued.

“I mean. I heard that this was all your plan, You basically saved thirty-or-so people and sank an enemy ship with only two people”, Kuroo sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, Kenma was starting to feel embarrassed.

“It was four people. We wouldn't have been able to do it if it wasn’t for you two distracting them. Besides. I had ulterior motives and still need your help in motivating them to join”, Kenma looked at his feet, hiding behind his hair, avoiding meeting Kuroo’s eyes again.

“But that’s my job and you made it super easy for me. But that doesn’t make you any less amazing, I’d say the opposite”, Kuroo seemed to be grinning, at least judging from his voice, as Kenma didn’t want to look up as his cheeks warmed up.

“It wasn’t fully my idea. I brainstormed it with Keiji”, Kenma was still downplaying himself, hoping that Kuroo’s embarrassing excitement would die with it.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit! As if _that_ Akaashi Keiji would come up with something as great as this. He probably told you not to do it”, Kuroo was still not sure if he liked the man or not, understandable in Kenma’s opinion, but Kuroo was wrong.

“He didn’t say no. He even chimed in to make sure everything was planned out. And he’s the one providing the safehouses for all of these people.”

“...Oh. I wondered where you were planning on hiding a bunch of illegals.”

“Not exactly hiding as no one really cares except bounty hunters. And that is only if they have their face recorded and can afford to set up a bounty in the first place.”

“...That’s brilliant. Hiding in plain sight. But seriously, do you want me to look at your hand? Might be better to give first aid now rather than later”, Kuroo sounded slightly worried, which surprised Kenma. Kuroo had reached his hand out, waiting for Kenma to comply by giving him his hand. The shorter man considered it for a minute.

“...Okay”, as the adrenaline wore off, the hand was also starting to hurt more and the salt from the seawater was definitely not helping it. Kenma placed his clothed hand onto Kuroo’s, who opened the sloppy wrap to reveal the wound again. It had mostly stopped bleeding, still looking pretty scary, but again, looking worse than it actually was.

“It doesn’t seem to be too deep. Probably won't leave a scar even if you let it heal on its own. ...How did you get this? It doesn’t look like a gunshot wound even though I heard one”, Kuroo started wrapping the hand again with the same cloth, all while walking.

“...I kind of stabbed myself while trying to use flint and steel”, this caused Kuroo to laugh in a way that made Kenma’s cheeks heat up from embarrassment. Again. Kuroo was the one supposed to be teased, not Kenma.

“And here I was worried that you were badly hurt. I thought you were fine until Bo yelled that you were bleeding and I just connected it to the gunshot. Gave me a real scare there.”

“No shots. Just me.”

“I can see that now. You lit up their gunpowder right? Pretty brilliant idea. Using their own weapons against them... There”, Kuroo let go of Kenma’s hand, “That’s much better. You won’t have to hold it anymore either, but it’s probably best to still wrap it again when we get some actual gauze”, Kenma lifted his hand, and indeed, it was a lot better, the cloth was still bulky, but at least it was tied tight and snugly against Kenma’s hand, the knot slightly applying pressure on the wound, not in an uncomfortable way, but to just keep bleeding in bay, if there was still any.

“Thanks. ...Where did you learn to wrap like this?” Kenma felt puzzled by Kuroo’s skills. If he wasn’t so arrogant, maybe he would be impressed even.

“Well… I had to learn a thing or two after my cousin died. Since I didn’t exactly have money for a doctor.”

“You did mention that you were poor… Sorry”, Kenma felt bad, as his family was well off, he still had trouble telling what issues come from not having money.

“No, it’s okay! I still had the privilege of knowledge. I could access my cousin’s library as well as have schooling. So learning first aid wasn’t that big of an issue.”

Now Kenma felt really bad, Kenma of course had also the privilege of learning, but threw it away along with his last name. Kuroo seemed to sense the mood getting darker.

“It’s okay! Not every person gets an equal chance, but that’s why we are here, right?” Kuroo tried to cheer Kenma up even though he had read the reason for Kenma’s sullen mood wrong. Kenma appreciated the effort even though it did little to comfort him.

“I guess you’re right”, he had no intention of correcting Kuroo either. He was just a nameless person now, so might as well live like one.

Kuroo did seem to get awkward again and Kenma did feel guilty about it. But at the same time he appreciated the silence it brought. He wasn’t in a mood to talk anymore. He was tired and they were just about to reach their destination. Sugawara was waiting for them at an apartment building’s back door. He was there to not only try and keep track of everyone but hand people keys to their new apartments that would be rent free for now.

Kenma and Kuroo knew that these apartments were owned by none other than Akaashii Keiji, but it made sense that he wouldn’t want to advertise his goodwill towards criminals. Kenma wanted to sneak out and just go home and rest, but Oikawa had snitched on his injury before he could do that. So after Sugawara was done with his explanations, he forced Kenma to come with him to the doctor, and also threatened everyone else to scatter.

As such, Kenma was shown to a doctor. The wound did get a few stitches and a clean gauze, but like Kuroo had said, he would’ve been fine even without the stitches. Kenma didn’t get a break though, as Sugawara immediately assigned Kenma to stay on the planning table from this day forward. It seemed that he wanted to recreate this mission from the beginning, but wanted to make sure it actually worked before risking everything.

Kenma wasn’t particularly happy about having to stay behind on the missions, but he did get an opportunity to create even more mayhem for the english, which he appreciated. He also surprisingly appreciated more talks with his friends.

Especially Kuroo. Though he wouldn’t admit it outloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked this chapter better than my previous one. It wasn't easy to write as I didn't want to write about things happening in irl, but then again I also wrote out some of my personal feelings in Kuroo's speech.
> 
> I'm not going to set myself a deadline anymore so I won't disappoint myself or you, as a reader. But rest assured, I'm still fully inspired to go trough with this. I just stop stressing about writing.
> 
> But in case you wan't to know when next chapter is out, I made a twitter to tweet out whenever an update comes. I'll also tweet if publish anything else, but I won't spam it with retweets. I'm also open to any DM's and conversations! I'm pretty active on twitter after all. Find me with [@kattiwart](https://twitter.com/kattiwart)


	4. The dead can't be taxed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this chapter a while ago, but edited only just now. I have to take a short break to finish my thesis but afterwards I'll be back on this! Hope you enjoy and remember to leave kudos or comment to let me know you did~

After Kenma had shown Kuroo that he was far from being just “small and cute”, Kuroo decided to end his childish crush on him. While he always had known that Kenma had been everything but a coward, he had no idea that Kenma was capable of so much. Kenma deserved more respect than his feelings that made his stomach full of butterflies and face heat up whenever thinking about him. It was easier said than done.

Kuroo had thought that he was contributing to the cause, having speeches almost everyday, having arguments with authoritarians, doing pranks to make redcoats’ life harder. He always thought that he was doing his best, and although it frustrated him to see no results, he had almost accepted his fate. He had no way of moving a whole country as a one person. He had no way of changing the lives of people who didn’t want change. Kenma however had no intention of giving up.

In a single day, Kenma had turned the tables around, doubling the amount of local revolutionaries and all he needed was two men. If two men could save the lives of thirty, why did Kuroo think that as one person he could do nothing. And even though thirty people weren’t a country, it made a huge difference in revolutionary lines. Kenma was so much more than Kuroo even had dared to dream to be.

The saved prisoners knew other people who were very interested in joining. The newly freed prisoners had absolutely nothing to lose. They organized riots, and turned even more people to the revolutionaries. It made Kuroo wonder why he was sitting still, trying to sell his views to people who never wanted to buy them. So he decided to redirect his energy and talk to what was considered the scum of the earth. Homeless, poor, the less unfortunate was the perfect demographic for his speeches. If someone hated the kingdom, it would be them. He found recruits a lot faster this way.

Sugawara seemed to have trouble controlling the ever growing numbers. Riots happened every day and a lot of local businesses suffered because of it. Some of them decided to close before the rioters hit their stores and shops. Sugawara asked Kuroo to try and control them, but he was just as heated and angry as any other revolutionary.

Kuroo wasn’t particularly proud of participating in the actual destruction, but he wanted to think that him being there was making a difference and saw it as a means to an end. He wasn’t alone of course. Most days Oikawa and Bokuto would join him. Kenma was busy helping Sugawara and seemed reluctant to join the ever growing crowds, but he did try to give some tips on how to not let things blow up and keep the protests as peaceful as possible. Kuroo did his best to follow the advice, but he would be lying to say that he never got carried away.

As the numbers grew, the protests had started to turn more and more violent attacking the coastguards. The redcoats eventually responded with bullets, shooting at the crowd, killing and injuring not only protestors but innocent civilians in the process. Kuroo wasn’t there as it happened, but he knew it could happen to him at any point in time. Kuroo wasn’t the only one realizing how serious things had become.

Kuroo’s decided to organize a completely silent protest to respect those who died. No chanting. No music. Just marching with no laughter, no celebration. They were however dispersed by the redcoats as soon as they started to gather even before they could start marching. The redcoats had them at gunpoint, threatening to shoot if they did not comply. The protestors had nothing to fight them with so most of them left while steaming with frustration. Yet there were still some people that were arrested, because they refused to leave.

Kuroo was one of the people leaving before things got nasty, Kenma’s advice echoing in his head. Even though he didn’t mind getting killed, he did mind getting arrested. He could do nothing if he was stuck in jail. He left, but took his anger and frustrations with him to home. He wanted to fight, but without guns or weapons, he could do nothing. Kuroo went to Sugawara to complain, but the silver haired man didn’t seem to care about Kuroo’s complaints. Sugawara however did have plans, that he refused to tell Kuroo, but the twinkle in his eyes told Kuroo that he would just have to be patient. Even though he was already pushing his patience, ready to explode.

Sugawara gave Kuroo new orders to stop with the speeches, but to keep talking to revolutionaries, to keep them from rioting and control them. Words were still Kuroo’s strongest ally and Sugawara knew it. Even though Kuroo wasn’t excited about it, he did as told. Of course there were still few people who didn’t want to sit still and listen to Kuroo. They got their hands on weapons and went vigilant against redcoats.

Kuroo was kind of jealous of those people, wishing he could go with them, but his friends were holding him back. The people who went vigilant were either arrested or killed for attacking redcoats. Every death made Kuroo more and more frustrated, but he tried to bring them some honor by using their deaths to inspire others and light the sparks of rebellion to flames. No matter how much he kept talking about patience, it did not ease his own frustrations.

Kuroo slammed his drink onto the table of their regular bar. He was already drunk, but he wasn’t the only one. Kuroo could barely register the red faces of others’ or his own, he was just trying to drown his frustrations.

“I’m so done. People are dying every day, how long do we gotta wait?” Kuroo let his forehead fall onto the table, making the table tilt with the bang.

“Stop that! You’re making Bokuto’s beers fall off the table!” Oikawa’s screeching made Kuroo sigh and rest his cheek on the table instead. He faced Bokuto who was also cheek down on the table. In front of him were multiple pints of beer, some which were empty or half empty but there were a couple full ones as well. Bokuto was looking back at Kuroo with saddest and most miserable eyes.

“Why doesn’t ‘Kaashi love me?” Bokuto sniffed. Kuroo just grimaced and turned his head the other way, there was no way he would be dealing with Bokuto’s feelings right now, he had his own to deal with. Speaking of, he saw Kenma sip from his drink. Kenma was still sitting up relatively straight, if you don’t count the fact that he had been slipping down on his chair, under the table and was basically on the same level that Kuroo was. Kenma’s cheeks were red.  _ Cute _ , Kuroo thought.

“You know, I’m drunk but I can still hear your thoughts when you speak them outloud”, Kenma didn’t look at him but it made Kuroo cringe at himself and he pushed himself up from the table.

“No but seriously, can we just all agree that Suga is just stalling us for no reason?” Kuroo wasn’t ready to let this go.

“He’s stalling us, because he actually knows something”, Kenma answered him again.

“I’m sure Suga has some kind of plan that can turn the tides. Kenma has been working closely with him, right~?” Oikawa also looked at Kenma. Oikawa had been almost as impatient for something to happen as Kuroo, but he had no problem controlling himself.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t tell me much and I don’t ask”, to put it mildly, Kuroo was disappointed. He sighed and sank deeper into his chair, not feeling any less frustrated even with alcohol. It only amplified his feelings of having to do something.

The door to the bar had opened, but Kuroo barely heard the bell alerting him of it. He did however jolt when someone slammed a newspaper onto their table. Kuroo looked up at the newcomer, but Bokuto reacted first.   
  
“ ‘Kaashi!” he still didn’t move from his position of having his cheek against the table, so the black haired man ignored Bokuto.

“Have you all seen this? It’s happening now. At the square”, Akaashi pointed at the paper. All of them with the exception of Akaashi, got up and leaned towards the paper. The headline was clear as day and made Kuroo’s blood boil.

“ ‘The King advises against Treason, Death Sentence to Rebellion’, huh?” Oikawa read it out loud.

“Well, yes that… But I meant this”, Akaashi moved his finger closer to the paper and pointed at the smaller article on the front page.   
  
“ ‘King’s Envoys going around the Continent, In response to Riots’?” Kenma tried.

“Yes. There is an envoy from England at the square right now. I thought you might be interested in listening”, Akaashi lifted his finger off the paper and crossed his arms, “I have to warn you to not make a racket, though. He has a lot of redcoats with him.”

Bokuto lifted his head and they all shared a look as they all seemed to come to an agreement.

“Let’s go”, Kuroo voiced the decision, smirking. He stood up, convincing himself that he would listen to Akaashi and not make a racket, knowing full well that he was tempted already. Alcohol did not help.

To Kuroo’s surprise, only Bokuto was struggling to walk straight, but he seemed to use it as an excuse to lean on Akaashi, who did not appreciate a heavy muscled man putting most of his body weight on him. Kuroo did feel a bit of a jealous pang as there was no way he could do that to Kenma or anyone for that matter.

Kuroo looked at Kenma, who was silently snickering at the two. Kuroo was truly pining and he had to acknowledge it. He was jealous of Bokuto for being so straightforward with his feelings and finding ways to show them. But he was also afraid that if he imitated Bokuto, Kuroo would scare off Kenma who was so small and quiet and precious. But then again, Kenma was a badass. And he hung out with Bokuto. So maybe Kuroo was just being a coward and making excuses.

They reached the square, which already had a decent crowd built up. Like Akaashi had said, redcoats seemed to be there too, surrounding the small stage that was more like a pedestal, barely seen through the mass of people. Oikawa elbowed a couple guys just to get a bit closer to the stage so they could hear the speaker, over the crowd whispering.

The speaker was already there, reading off of a paper, open in front of him.

“As declared by King George the Third, any and all rebellion is frowned upon. Bringing a treacherous people, who have named themselves as the ‘revolutionaries’ in for an arrest, will be rewarded greatly in the eyes of the King. Serving King George the Third, will bring you the satisfaction of stopping this meaningless violence”, Kuroo snorted.

“So they are tricking people by saying ‘reward’, and then saying that your reward is betraying the people that trusted you. What dickheads”, he voiced his thoughts to his friends. He really wanted to go up there and argue, when he felt a slight push from his back, making him stumble forward and look back annoyed.

“Go tell ‘em, bro!” Bokuto was smiling at him drunkenly, and Kuroo smirked back, before turning to take another step forward. No need to tell twice. But he felt a hand on his chest, stopping him from going forward. Kuroo turned to look who it was.

“I said, don’t make a ruckus. If you get caught here, it’s over”, Akaashi had a very serious look on his face, which made Kuroo calm down a bit. He looked around the crowd and it seemed that Kuroo and the gang wasn’t the only one getting pissed off. People murmured amongst themselves, not really agreeing with the King’s message.

“Fine. I’ll play nice”, Kuroo just shrugged and decided to stay put and listen to Akaashi.

“Heed that failure to comply will brand yourself as an accomplice. As such, you are an enabler of treason, meaningless violence and death. These rebels do not care for your needs but seek power through riots. This is not the will of King Geogre William Frederick. He does not wish you any harm was it through the hands of the rebels or not. They scream revolution, but do not be tricked as the only thing brought on the rebels will be death.”

“Yo, if he hates death so much, why is he killing his own people who are just marching the street?” Kuroo was pissed, he threw all reason out of the window as he raised his voice to argue, but the speaker just glanced towards Kuroo and ignored him. The crowd on the other hand made agreeing sounds.

“The King has heard of your dissatisfaction, but it is not solved by chaos and bloodshed. Do not be afraid to say no to such disgrace. Going against one’s King is dishonorable and not the solution. The congress saying otherwise does not speak for the king.”

“And yet it is the king’s men causing the chaos and bloodshed. You’re just speaking, because you have no idea what is actually happening here”, Kuroo had had enough, he pushed the speaker and made room for himself to get up on the stand, “Are you actually blind or am I just living in a completely different world?

“We were arranging a peaceful protest. A silent one. But we were dispersed before we could even take one step, before we were told to go home or get shot and go home in a casket! The silent protest was for our fallen brothers, who had lost their lives, getting shot by king’s men unarmed! If Bloodshed is not the solution, why are the king’s men using it as one?! We have no freedom to even mourn for the people who disagree with the king!”

“Kuroo, please, get down. This is not the time”, Akaashi had made his way to the stand and was trying to be as quiet as possible, but this just annoyed Kuroo more.

“Akaashi, please, what better time is there than to take over the king's message. If you keep sitting on your ass, you’ll miss the moment when you’re supposed to stand up!” Kuroo directed the words to the whole crowd again, ignoring Akaahsi who was backing up after the mention of his name, “If you keep doing nothing, how do you expect to gain freedom?!

“And if you’re still having doubts, we are not free in any meaning of the word. Freedom of speech does not exist, just watch them trying to silence me! I have way too many thoughts and I have way too much will for them to control, so their only option is to just kill me! I’d rather lay down my life if that means freedom for my thoughts, than live in constant lie to myself!

“If you’ve ever felt that you couldn’t say something in the fear of getting fucking executed, you’re a slave to the king! King that would rather silence us than solve the actual problems causing us to speak up! That is how much your worth is to him!” Kuroo pointed at the previous speaker who was still stunned from getting pushed off, “You’re just a dog that can be turned into a doormat at any point in time!”

That seemed to finally wake him up, turning his stunned face into an offended one, “E-excuse me! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Your job, but better, and I even have a better message!” Kuroo just grinned at the poor guy, he was definitely not used to having someone say something against him.

“G-guards!” Kuroo watched as the redcoats who were standing in the midst of the people started to move, but he had no time to react as someone’s shoulder hit Kuroo in the solar plexus and air was blown out of his lungs. He folded forwards and hit his face onto someone’s back before he realized that someone was Bokuto who was already running and laughing all the while carrying Kuroo like a sack of potatoes.

“Bro, you told ‘em! Time to make a great escape!” Bokuto was still laughing.

Kuroo had trouble getting the air back into his lungs as the ride from Bokuto wasn’t exactly the smoothest, not to mention, Kuroo was laughing too. It took a couple of blocks before Kuroo could actually mutter words enough for Bokuto to let him down. So Bokuto turned the corner and dropped Kuroo on top of some shops front porch. Both of them panted for a minute, staring at each other before bursting out laughing again.

“Man you should’ve seen the messenger’s face when I called him a dog!” Kuroo kept laughing.

“I didn’t even have to see it! The dude looked like a dog with his weird wig anyways!” Bokuto barked back.

“And here, I was worried, you’d ran too far for us to catch up”, both of them were interrupted when oikawa walked to the scene, he was breathing heavily, but didn’t let his exterior show that any effort was made to catch up. Behind him, Kenma was also running, but he seemed to be less happy about having to run. Oikawa looked amused.

“Did they come after us?” Kuroo was a bit worried. He knew that he could run away, but he wasn’t so sure about Kenma’s slow pace.

“No. They did try, but people crowded them. You caused quite a riot back there”, Kuroo felt pride filling his chest and smirked.

“That was the plan!”

“As if you could have planned this…” Kenma finally reached the other three, sweaty and exhausted.

“But give me some credit, it was actually great, wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t say otherwise”, Kuroo felt his heart swell a bit, Kenma’s opinion somehow weighted more than the others’ and Kuroo was happy that Kenma didn’t think lowly of him.

“Anyway. Keiji told us to meet him in the bar. He said that he has some things to tell us”, Kenma sat next to Kuroo onto the porch.

“You mean in addition to the message thing?” Kuroo watched as Kenma fell onto his back, laying down onto the porch, but Oikawa answered instead.

“Yup~! He seemed a bit mad, so he went ahead, but he told us to sober up and go after him.”

“I feel like I sobered after screaming my heart out…” Kenma’s quiet laugh made Kuroo’s head turn faster than lightning, but still not fast enough to see his smile. Kenma was just looking back at him.

“...What? It was funny.”

“So we should go back, right? Since ‘Kaashi’s waiting?” of course it was Bokuto, eager to get back to Akaashi. He was fidgeting with his fingers, clearly stopping himself from bouncing.

“Yeah, we should go. It must be important since it’s him”, Kuroo pulled himself up from the porch and reached out his hand towards Kenma, “Let’s go, you drunk.”

“I’m not drunk, smartass”, but Kenma grabbed the hand regardless and let himself be pulled up by Kuroo.

“As if you would laugh at my stupidity while clear headed”, Kuroo smirked at Kenma again who just squinted eyes at him.

“You know, you can’t win with a self-roast.”

“Are we competing?” Kuroo acted dumbfounded, blinking his eyes at Kenma. The confusion on Kenma’s face meant that Kuroo had indeed won, but the moment Kenma saw Kuroo’s act falter with a winning smirk, he hit Kuroo in the stomach with his fist lightly, causing Oikawa to laugh while Kuroo himself rubbed dramatically at his stomach.

“C’mon now, you can bicker on the way~ Bokuto is getting impatient", Bokuto had actually started bouncing towards the street, glancing impatiently at Kenma and Kuroo. Saying that he was being impatient, was putting it mildly.

So they made their way back to the bar, making a small detour to not cross through the crowd or redcoats. Things would get awkward if any of them got recognized. Entering the bar, it had more people than before, but Akaashi had hoarded their regular table by himself. As soon as the four of them entered, Akaashi gestured for them to come to the table. Which they did.

“I see that Bokuto got you out in one piece”, Akaashi was looking at Kuroo, deadpan on his face.

“ ‘Kaashi! I told you, you can trust me!” Bokuto was boasting as he sat down next to Akaashi and moved the chair closer. Akaashi seemed to ignore him and waited for Kuroo to answer instead.

“...Okay, look, I may have caused a racket, but everything is all and well, right? No one died and I got my message across” Kuroo sat down as well. Kenma followed but Oikawa made his way towards the bar. Akaashi sighed.

“_Our_ message. Try not to forget that the world doesn’t revolve around you. No one died, but easily could have. And I’m not talking about rebels. If you had caused the death of a redcoat publicly, they would have your head as well as all your acquaintances”, Kuroo did a quick glance at Kenma, knowing full well what Akaashi was talking about, but Kenma was just as ready to die as he was for the cause. Just like all of his friends. He opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Akaashi.

“Just because you’re ready to die, doesn’t mean others are ready to die, because your pain-in-the-ass self couldn’t hold back his own mouth”, Kuroo figured that Akaashi had a point. But he still thought that the opportunity was too golden to let go. He was getting tired of arguing with Akaashi as they just went around in circles.

“Give him a break. I think taking over King’s own message was a great idea, even if it was impulsive”, Kenma spoke up.

“What was that about the congress anyway?” Oikawa came in with four beers, two in each hand. He put them down on the table and sat down before he started distributing them, “We haven’t heard anything from Suga for weeks. Is this what he’s been up to?”

“I was getting to that. This is why I called for you. He contacted me. I can’t talk about details, but Suga is organizing an army with Nekomata.”

“Wait, Nekomata?! As in _the_ Nekomata?” flabbergasted Oikawa almost spilled his drink as he looked at Akaashi, Kuroo had no idea what they were talking about, but he was annoyed that Sugawara would contact Akaashi out of all people.

“Yes. The Nekomata who was previously part of the British navy. Basically since he has the equipment and Sugawara has the men, they are rearranging revolutionaries. I was told that all of you have a bigger part in this, so I thought I should tell you, before they make it official.”

“So wait, it isn’t official yet? You sure you should talk about this?” Kuroo questioned.

“It’s probably fine. It’s not like we are english spies or anything! And even if plans change, ‘Kaashi’s giving us time to react to the news, right?” Bokuto looked at Akaashi excitedly.

“Well yes. You might want to rearrange your business and family before you get thrown into a war. I thought it would be appropriate to warn you.”

“Get to the point. What are our tasks?” Kenma cut off everyone. Kuroo was once again surprised by his straightforwardness. Kuroo would have thought that Kenma wouldn’t really care as long as he got to participate.

“Bokuto and Kuroo will be in charge of some units. I don’t know the size or the type, but basically you’ll be thrown into the fight. Kenma will continue being a strategist, but you’ll also be basically on the field. Oikawa, they’re not sure about yet. They were considering sending you to France but it might take some time. You might be just a foot soldier until you get sent off”, Kuroo felt giddy. He was finally able to fight for real and also lead some people. He was definitely made for the role.

Kuroo had been waiting for an opportunity like this for way too long and it was finally happening. But somehow he also felt angry that it took so long. All the pent up frustration and useless deaths could have been avoided if this happened just a few weeks earlier. Then again, he was a bit scared, he had been talking big about fighting until death, but being so close to the fact, made him feel fear. Not for himself, but because he had actually found friends for the first time, and he was scared for them. The only solution of not feeling the sorrow of losing them, would be to die before them.

The silence that had been brought by Akaashi was broken by Kenma again.

“What about you? What task were you put on?” now that Kenma mentioned it, Kuroo was curious as well, Akaashi who had been acting passive this whole time, surely he would be doing something similar that he’s been doing now. Not really taking a stand.

“I was put in charge of a unit as well”, Kuroo’s jaw dropped and he heard Oikawa gasp.

“Surely you jest! You refused right?” Oikawa voiced Kuroo’s thoughts.

“No. I accepted. I might as well do something while I wait for another opening”, both Kuroo and Oikawa groaned.

“But can’t you do what you’ve been doing now? Or join Kenma as the strategist?” Bokuto seemed to be more worried for Akaashi’s safety than motivations.

“I’m not that good at strategizing. And the work I’m doing now won’t have any use after they make a decision.”

“I’m just surprised you agreed to do anything at all”, Kuroo finally said out loud. This seemed to offend Akaashi though.

“I’m still a revolutionary even if I’m not a loud one. Just because I don’t want to get killed off in the street meaninglessly, doesn’t mean I’m not ready to die for the cause. Since death seems to be your main concern rather than the future.”

“You know what? Forget it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re a whole lot dumber than what you make out yourself to be”, Kuroo downed the rest of his beer down before slamming the pint onto the table and getting up, “I’m out. Thanks for the warning.”

Kuroo left the others at the table as he headed out. He knew his frustrations weren’t really for Akaashi, but getting poked like that, it just burst out. But he did mean every word he said. He wasn’t going to take it back nor apologize.

Kuroo walked across the street, letting the cool night breeze soothe his nerves and sober his thoughts. Of course he was happy that all of this was finally happening, but he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t scared at all. Leading men is a big responsibility, but he figured he could handle it. It wasn’t the first time and he was excited to do so. Didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous.

And Nekomata. Kuroo was worried about this Nekomata. Oikawa made it sound like he was an experienced man in the field of war, but Kuroo couldn’t help but be worried about his legitimacy. The guy was coming from British navy after all. It wouldn’t be weird if the man was with the english and about to destroy it all. But then again, Sugawara was the one negotiating and it felt like the silver haired man had a radar for honest people. Kuroo just wanted to meet Nekomata himself.

“Keiji has a point, you know”, Kuroo was pulled out of his thoughts by a quiet voice. He turned to look at Kenma annoyed, it didn’t matter who it was, taking Akaashi’s side on this made him annoyed. Kenma just kept looking forward.

“Are you saying that all the people who died until now, have died meaninglessly? Because that’s what he implied.”

“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but yes. Or are you saying that you even remember the names of the people who lost their lives in protests?”

“It’s not about me remembering their name, but their deaths weren’t meaningless. They prove how the english don’t really give two shits about us”, Kuroo really didn’t remember the names, but he did remember the flames their deaths lit amongst other revolutionaries.

“Are you saying that you’d sacrifice lives, just to prove a point?”

“I’m not the one responsible for their deaths. They attacked the redcoats themselves!” Kuroo was getting frustrated again, but Kenma kept calm.

“I didn't say that… I’m also not saying that I agree with Keiji on everything, but it’s better to save your life for something more important than a single protest. If you’re giving your life away, it’s better to die after you’ve made difference than die to make a difference. If that makes sense…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it”, Kuroo sighs and rubs his face in frustration, “A war is way bigger cause than a single protest. I’m just frustrated because he barely has done anything himself, he’s just sitting back and watching things happen before taking a side.”

“...I’m sure you know better than that. He’s the one you went looking for when you wanted to join revolutionaries after all.”

“...Fine. Yeah, he’s good at the semi-public thing, but that’s only because he has the name ‘Akaashi’ to use and money.”

Kenma went silent with that, Kuroo wasn't really expecting the quiet man to speak so much to begin with but the timing to get silent all of a sudden was odd. Kuroo turned to look at Kenma again, who seemed to be looking at the ground. His hair was blocking the view of his face, so Kuroo couldn’t read him.

“...What? Did I say something wrong?” Kuroo started again, it made Kenma lift his head back up, but his face was still unreadable even when not blocked by hair.

“While a name can solve a lot of problems, it also creates new ones”, Kenma hadn’t talked about his past much, but Kuroo felt like this had something to do with his history. Kenma hadn’t spoken about his last name, and Kuroo didn’t dare to ask. He wasn’t sure if others in their friend group knew anything about him, but this was the most he had heard of Kenma’s past since meeting him. Of course Kuroo was curious, but Kenma seemed a very private person, so he didn’t want to scare him away with questions. Now though seemed better time than any to continue this conversation.

“...Kenma, what’s your last name? You’ve never mentioned it and neither have Akaashi, Oikawa or Bokuto. At first I just thought, you liked being on a first name basis, but you never call me by my first name.”

“I don’t have one. Not anymore.”

“Oh”, Kuroo figured that this was an extremely touchy subject even though it was still hard to read it from Kenma’s face. Losing your last name could only happen for a few reasons, the most common being disowning. Kuroo had figured something had happened for him to join the revolutionaries, but he never imagined something like this. Kuroo waited for Kenma to continue, but only silence followed. He didn’t want to pry any further if Kenma wasn’t willing to talk about it, so he traded some information instead.

“You know, ‘Kuroo’ used to be a pretty big name as well. But my dad wasn’t really that great of a person. He just inherited the name and gambled all his money. My mom was a commoner and he had no interest in keeping a family, even though he was forced to recognize me as his son”, Kenma looked up back at Kuroo surprised as he continued.

“You probably already figured but I’m a bastard. I was glad to leave behind the stigma my name had when I moved over to New York. Basically what I’m saying is that I’m not one to judge over a name you once had”, Kenma scoffed but Kuroo could see his ears and cheeks reddening a bit.

“Stop. I came to comfort you, not the other way around”, Kuroo smirked.

“Aww, you wanted to comfort me? I knew you liked me even though you act hard to get!” Kuroo felt an elbow hit his chest, but he just laughed.

“You’re embarrassing.”

Kuroo kept chuckling and teasing Kenma, who didn't seem to mind it as much as he let on. Even though Kuroo was still not good at reading Kenma, his red cheeks betrayed his annoyed tone and look. The more they continued, the less annoyed Kenma sounded and looked.

“Where do you live?” Kenma eventually asked after walking around aimlessly for a while.

“Why? Do you want to send me love letters, after finally realizing your feelings for me~?” Kuroo continued the teasing. Kenma rolled his eyes.

“No, I want to come over”, Kuroo was taken aback with surprise. He thought they were still just joking.

“Oh, is your home far? My apartment is just a few blocks over. You can crash over at my place if you need.”

“You could say that it’s far”, Kuroo wasn’t certain he understood what Kenma was talking about, but he didn’t want to question it if Kenma didn’t want to talk about it.

Kuroo walked over to his building. It looked like a tailor shop from the front, but Kuroo led Kenma towards the back and up a set of stairs which led to a front door. He dug a key from his pocket and opened the door for Kenma.

“I’m sure my roommate won’t mind you coming over, but be warned that he is loud in the mornings”, Kenma walked into the apartment but turned on his heels to look at snickering Kuroo.

“Wait… You have a roommate?” before Kuroo could even answer, running steps came from inside the apartment and one of the doors opened with a slam.

“Kubro! You just left! Kenma left to get you back but you were taking so long that we decided to-! Oh, hello, Kenma!” Bokuto cut himself off as he saw the smaller man in their apartment.

“Your roommate is Koutarou?” If Kuroo had to guess Kenma actually sounded… annoyed?

“Yeah! Kuroo needed a cheap apartment and we thought why not have him at our place! My family’s shop is downstairs! You saw it, right?” Bokuto continued.

“Anyway. Kenma is crashing here tonight”, Kuroo turned to Kenma, “You can take my room and bed, I’ll just sleep on the couch.”

“...” Kenma seemed to be shocked by the fact that Bokuto and Kuroo were roommates. Kenma had never visited either of them after all. I guess it was a big fact to not know about his friends.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I should’ve told you earlier that we live together. It just never came up.”

“No, that’s fine… Um… I’m tired. Can I just go to bed…?” Kenma still seemed slightly annoyed and maybe a bit embarrassed, but Kuroo wasn’t so sure.

“Sure. You can sleep in my room over there”, Kuroo pointed at a door, one of which was his bedroom, “You can handle yourself, yeah?”

“Aww, but I wanted to still drink with you! I’m not tired at all and now Kenma is here too! I just opened a bottle too...” Bokuto pouted.

“Oh ho ho? You think I would pass on free booze? The question is if you want to risk me drinking it before you”, Kuroo smirked at Bokuto who seemed to forget his sorrows in an instant.

“As if you could drink faster than me!”

“Uh… I’m gonna go to sleep now. Have fun I guess…” with that Kenma left for the bedroom. Kuroo and Bokuto looked after him, but quickly turned back to each other.

“So booze?” Bokuto asked with a toothed smile.

“Booze”, Kuroo smirked.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just here to point out that I will be most likely uploading Chapter 1 in a couple of days, so if you liked this, look forward to it. I'm almost finished with it as I'm writing this, so shouldn't take long. That chapter is considerably longer than this (*cough cough* like four times and not done yet *cough*) and I hope to keep up with that length in the future. I will try to update this every 2 weeks.


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